Part 15 - Fast Forward to Now

One month after going under the wing of Ken Clement, he pulls me into his office for a progress check. I'm just over 5 weeks out from the provincials and haven't yet tightened the reins on my diet. I've been watching what I eat closely for months but haven't suffered or restricted myself drastically. I enjoy clean eating, so it's fairly easy for me to resist junk food.

I generally follow a high protein, moderate carbohydrate, low fat diet, eating every 3 hours, drinking 3-4 liters of water a day. My protein comes from fish, chicken, eggs, tofu, cottage cheese, yogourt and protein powder; my carbs from oatmeal, rye bread and fruit; and I eat plenty of vegetables. I rarely leave home without a healthy shake and bottle of water in hand, and a can of tuna in my bag just in case. Oh yeah, and I have a weakness for popcorn and peanuts when I'm bored...umm, accompanied by a dry martini (shhhhh! don't turn me in).

We made a few adjustments to my diet by replacing fruit with yams and rice, so that my carb source isn't coming from sugars. Ken suggested swapping peanuts for almonds. I like peanuts because they're fun to crack open and cost way less than other nuts. But okay, fine, I'll get the almonds. Not surprisingly, he also told me to axe the popcorn. That's a tough one for me, don't know if I can do it. Focus, Sue, focus! You can do it, give up the snacking for just a few weeks.

And I don't need to be scolded about the alcohol, so that I can zap on my own. Research has shown that alcohol diminishes testosterone levels in the body, though it has yet to be proven in women. Plus, the research to date has mostly used subjects on the brink of alcoholism. Being post-menopausal, my hormones are all messed up anyway. Excuses aside, it's still not a good idea during contest preparation. It's empty calories and, in the case where one is not enough, it can affect your sleep and workouts.

So on to the progress check. I weighed in heavier than the first analysis while the caliper measurements decreased. The fact that the scales were moving up instead of down wasn't scaring me the way it would normally. I was using the mirror as a gauge and knew my physique was looking sharper. When Ken punched the numbers into his computer, the results indicated that I'd gained 3 lbs of muscle and lost almost 2% bodyfat since my first analysis. That's amazing in just a month...impossible actually. Oh I definitely gained mass since my last competition, just not in this short time span. The only explanation is that initially my muscles were so over trained that they went into remission. Once I resumed training properly and added more carbs to my diet, they filled up. We'll call it muscle memory. I'm thinking the over training wasn't all for naught. Whatever happened, I'm happy with the results and intend to continue following the program to the end.

We then stepped into the aerobics room to hit a few poses. My abs are hiding, but leaning out a little more should bring them out. My abs are always the last to arrive, but they show well once the tan is slapped on. Some people are blessed with washboard abs without trying very hard, while I just have to look at a dumbbell and my arms grow. Everything else seems to be on track.

I never thought I'd do this but here it goes, I'm posting before pics modelling my new posing suit prior to Joan blinging it. These were taken on May 2nd, with exactly one month to go.

Fast forward 3 more weeks and we've arrived at real time in this blog. The scale is hovering at 107, skin has tightened, delts have rounded, back widened, legs improved, arms haven't grown out of proportion, and my dancer obliques are surfacing. My shape has dialed in and it's looking like I'm almost ready. It's hard to see the gains when comparing the photos I've shared with those I posted earlier from competitions, however, I have before shots from last year which I haven't shared. In the next week or so, I'll have another progress check then make some decisions about what to do for the home stretch.

It's May 18, 2012. Only 15 days to go and I'm faced with another set-back. This is no time for an injury..........